Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to provisionally reinstate Russia.
The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in 2023 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, on July 7, 2026, the IOC lifted the suspension, saying the reasons for the ban were “no longer applicable.”
The decision means Russian athletes could compete under their national flag at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. It is another step towards Russia’s return to international sports after the IOC also recommended in December 2025 that sports federations readmit Russian and Belarusian Under-23 athletes.
Ukraine’s Olympic Committee said the IOC acted too quickly and that the decision goes against the Olympic Charter.
In a statement, the NOC said the IOC failed to properly confirm that the issues which led to Russia’s suspension had been resolved. It added that CAS had already ruled in 2024 that the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee was lawful because it included sports organisations from temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity and Olympic rules.
Ukraine argued that restoring Russia’s Olympic rights without correcting those issues is against international sports law and could create a dangerous precedent for the Olympic movement.
Russian and Belarusian athletes competed as neutral athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
Russia is still suspended by FIFA from international football competitions, while World Athletics rejected an IOC recommendation in May to lift the ban on Belarusian athletes and teams.